The Great British Energy Community Fund (Formerly the Community Energy Fund)
The Great British Energy Community Fund is a government programme which specifically funds community energy projects to do feasibility and development. £10m was made available through the fund initially in 2023 and the government has recently announced another £5m.
Update September 16 2025:
Funds for the GBE CF should be with the Hubs by the end of September so the Hubs are opening their next rounds of funding. Click through to your local Hub to see the current state of play. In most cases you can submit expressions of interest now.
The aim of the fund is to help kickstart projects including small-scale wind farms and rooftop solar partnerships, as well as battery storage, rural heat networks, electric vehicle charging points, and fuel poverty alleviation schemes – all proposed, designed and owned by local people.
The project is administered by the regional Net Zero Hubs. They can offer advice on applying for funding, so get in touch if you are considering making an application. You can find details for your regional Net Zero Hub below:
Greater South East Net Zero Hub
North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub
The fund also aims to:
- Empower local people to develop energy projects to benefit their local areas.
- Projects will generate clean energy, such as rural heat networks or rooftop solar, while kick-starting private investment to scale up projects.
- Support local jobs and growth, build stronger communities, and enable places to directly benefit from clean, affordable, locally sourced energy.
This page will provide you with tools and resources to help you craft a successful application to the fund and will keep you updated on developments and updates, as we hear about them.
Community Energy England is campaigning for the fund to be expanded and extended to support a substantial expansion of community energy projects across the country. You can return to the our Funding Page to see sections on other sources of development funding and Potential capital funding.
Webinars and CEF Events
South West Net Zero Hub Webinar – 4 June 2025
This webinar shared information and guidance about the Great British Energy Community Fund. The webinar is aimed at groups who are new to community energy and established community energy groups in the South West.
Community Energy Fund Webinar
CEE held and exclusive webinar, in collaboration with the Net Zero Hubs. The event was intended to help explain the application process for the community Energy Fund and included presentations from Net Zero Hub officers, who are responsible for administering the fund.
The North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub
Hosted a webinar on 10 April providing an overview of the programme and the funding available, lessons learned from the first round of funding and to provide an opportunity for interested groups to ask questions about the fund.
Details of how to apply for the Great British Energy Community Fund
Regional Net Zero Hubs across England have officially launched their applications for the Great British Energy Community Fund. Please be aware that there are regional variations in timing and how they are processing applications. This is intentional and is due to differing local circumstances.
Please note that advice from the Hubs is to contact them for feedback ahead of submitting your application. The most successful applications to round 1 were from organisations that had been in contact earlier.
To help you in this process, we’ve consolidated key information for each regional Net Zero Hub
Great British Energy Community Fund Resources and Help Available
Several CEE members are able to provide support and services to help with project development (on a paid basis) to help with funding applications or feasibility studies. We want to add more members to this list.